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Monthly Archives: November 2016

I was pretty happy to find out that Leonardo DiCaprio’s Before the flood is available for free on YouTube (legitimately, as it’s on the National Geographic channel). Then I found out (noooooo!!!) It’s only for the next two days. I think the idea is to get as many Americans to watch it before the election as possible, and watch it they have (or…well, some other people have, anyway). At the time I started it it had almost 11 million views, and now that I’m done it’s over that and on it’s way to 12 million. If you want to join the club of watchers this weekend, just click on the movie link at the end of the post. Join us! Mwahahaha!

So, if you watch this what are you in store for? ***Spoilers ahead, all over the place*** Well, first off there’s some amazing shots of places around the world since we journey with Leo everywhere from the Alberta (Canada) oil sands, to the Arctic, to China, the US, India, Indonesia… man, the dude was everywhere! We even get to talk to people from NASA and see shots from space.

What I didn’t realise going in (silly me) was that it’s actually a little bit of a horror movie. Now, I don’t mean in the fun way with vampires, zombies and monsters popping up to bite you in the butt, this is definitely more a kick in the cheeks to wake up and open your eyes. We all know the bad stuff is already happening and that we are headed to some nasty places without change, but there is still a lot of nothing going on as we ignore the looming apocalypse like ostriches with their heads in the sand (FACT – even ostriches don’t do this…soooo not sure what our excuse is…).

There were some scary things said about what could be in store if the developing world follows in the US’s footsteps to try and achieve that so very American dream. Poverty makes changes in energy resources hard in developing countries such as India, where 300 million people are without power (equivalent to the entire population of the US) and about 30 percent of their population is still burning cow dung to cook meals (about 700 million households do this). Their main focus is still getting people access, and with numbers like this they are more likely to follow in the US’s footsteps of using cheaper resources (aka coal) until something major changes over there. If they did what the US is doing now, the future may be looking pretty dark for everyone.

Approximately 97 percent of scientists believe in global warming but there seems to be a huge media and political push, particularly in the US, to say this isn’t happening. That’s kind of scary. Evidence seems to be all around us, and the movie points some of it out, such as Florida’s sunny day flooding, and that Chinese media talks about global warming all the time as an acceptable fact due to the horrible pollution there (some people have to wear face masks to feel safe to go outside). Fortunately for China, they have some of the biggest wind and solar companies in the world to deal with this issue. So, hopefully other countries can get on that train) among others.

Another point noted that they had to move the Revenant movie from some of the filming locations in Canada as this snowbelt area was too warm for snow. When Leo previously mentioned this in his acceptance speech at the Academy Awards Canadian news actually claims the snow going away was just another of the well known chinook weather patterns known in that region. Could it still be global warming? Sure… but also… maybe not. There is a common misconception/steroetype that Canada is covered in snow. FACT – Canada is not always covered in snow. Filming for the Revenant reportedly went from October 2014-August 2015. There will likely be snow starting sometime in October in that area, but during spring and summer (starting roughly in April or May and ending in August) the snow goes away to make way for spring. Hopefully, they weren’t thinking that it was going to look like Christmas that whole time, but news reports seem to indicate that this occurance happened near the end of filming…and that would put it in the middle of summer. I could be totally wrong here, maybe it happened in mid December. Canadian News outlets could also be wrong, or part of that media conspiracy (but the Candian government, like the Chinese, fully belives climate change is real) and it sure could have been global warming. Mountain tops may be snowy all year round…right? I’m just saying some salt grains might need to accompany your watching, and as always, I’d say check out the facts before you repeat them, but aside from this (possible) little gem, most of what I saw seemed pretty solid, and very compelling.

Fortunately, it’s not all doom and gloom. There is still hope. Tesla’s gigafactories and carbon tax might be the answer (and just a note that Alberta, Canada, is jumping on the carbon tax train and set to implement it as of Jan 2017, perhaps in contrition for thier oil sands sins, but the people aint happy so maybe carbon tax might be the more bitter pill of the two to swallow). And of course, there’s always us. The more we know, the more we might just try to do something…so I’d have to say that watching this film isn’t likely going to hurt that, and might just motivate you to look into this stuff and spread the word…maybe…

With amazing visuals, a compelling message (and music producers Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross!!) and the fact that it’s free to watch (for a limited time!!!) you might want to give this a shot. 🙂 If so, click below:

*Sigh* you may have noticed that I’ve been MIA for a bit…and sorry to say all of this is also on the dismal side…but fear not! I’ve just upped the challenge ante!! Can I actually do this before the end of the 52 weeks? Time will tell!!!

Blog post 14/52 – check…but behind by 6 posts! Ouchie!!

Writing in the screenplay – eh…no…but will be back on track this week!